Plinijevo Naravoslovje in srednjeveška ikonografija živali

• Main Author: Tine Germ
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani (Ljubljana University Press, Faculy of Arts) 2007-12-01
• Series: Ars & Humanitas
• Subjects: srednjeveška ikonografi ja živali; Plinij starejši; Naravoslovje; bestiariji; Villard de Honnecourt
• Online Access: https://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/arshumanitas/article/view/254

Most experts accept the influence of Pliny the Elder on the development of medieval animal iconography as completely logical. However, an overview of relevant literature reveals that the generally acknowledged influence of Naturalis Historia is a cliché that most writers cite uncritically, whereas the study of the actual role of Pliny the Elder in the formation of the symbolic meanings of animals is still in its infancy. An accurate comparison of integral texts from Pliny’s Naturalis Historia, Aelian’s De Natura Animalium, Oppian’s Cynegetica and Halieutica, Solinus’ Collectanea Rerum Memorabilium, Isidore of Seville’s Etymologiae, the Physiologus, and medieval bestiaries shows that writers of medieval bestiaries cited a large amount of Pliny’s animal descriptions through the mediation of Aelian, Oppian, Solinus, and Isidore of Seville, who drew their knowledge of natural science almost entirely from Pliny’s works. Thus, his direct influence is difficult to prove, but the influence of Plinian content that helped form medieval animal iconography through various mediators can be established with greater certainty. Studying Pliny’s influence on animal iconography is rendered additionally difficult because the methods of transferring content from literary tradition into an artistic medium have been insufficiently explored. The most tangible and recognizable is the role of bestiaries; in numerous examples of late Romanesque and Gothic sculptures it is possible to prove the direct influence of animal illuminations and descriptions in bestiaries, in which the method of depiction expresses the awareness of the symbolic value of the animal, which is transferred from the bestiaries into architectural sculpture and other fine arts media. A special role in studying the transfer of allegoric content from bestiaries into medieval animal iconography is played by the written records of medieval artists, which have been rarely preserved, and especially by “pattern books” (Musterbücher), which on the one hand sculptors and painters used as a direct template and, on the other, undoubtedly express the author’s knowledge of bestiaries. Thus, the animal drawings from the famous Sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt indicate that the author was familiar with contemporary bestiaries and found inspiration in them; however, the relations between the drawings – juxtaposition of positively and negatively valued animals – indicates that he also took their symbolic value into account. Villard’s Sketchbook reveals an additional interesting detail: his annotation to the drawing of a porcupine reveals the influence of Pliny’s Naturalis Historia on the formation of the symbolic meaning of animals because Villard explicitly mentions features of the porcupine that were first mentioned by Pliny the Elder.